The Problem of Pain was published by The Centenary Press in October 1940 and was Lewis’s first work of Christian apologetics — the book that brought him to the attention of the BBC and led to the radio talks that became Mere Christianity. It addresses the oldest and most devastating objection to theism: if God is omnipotent, He could prevent suffering; if God is good, He would prevent suffering; suffering exists; therefore God is either not omnipotent, not good, or nonexistent.
The Argument
Lewis does not solve the problem of pain — he did not believe it could be solved in the philosophical sense — but he offers a framework within which suffering becomes intelligible. His key arguments:
Free will — God gave humans free will because love requires freedom. Freedom necessarily includes the freedom to choose wrongly, which causes suffering. A world without suffering would be a world without freedom, and therefore a world without love.
Soul-making — suffering is the instrument through which God shapes human character. Comfort and pleasure do not produce courage, compassion, or depth; only difficulty does.
The nature of divine goodness — God’s goodness is not indulgent kindness. Lewis compares God to a surgeon, an artist, and a father: someone whose love is expressed not through permissiveness but through demanding the best from the beloved.
Lewis was aware that these arguments, however cogent, were cold comfort to someone in actual pain. Twenty years later, when his wife died, he confronted this inadequacy directly in A Grief Observed — and found that the measured arguments of The Problem of Pain offered him almost nothing.
Collecting The Problem of Pain
First edition (The Centenary Press, London, 1940): Red cloth binding. Dust jacket.
Market values (with dust jacket):
- Fine in dust jacket: $3,000–$8,000
- Very good in dust jacket: $1,000–$3,000
- Without dust jacket: $200–$500
Wartime paper shortages make first printings scarce, and the Centenary Press imprint (not Lewis’s usual publisher) adds bibliographic interest.